Pondering Posture

Week before last I spent some time watching Ted Talks Videos on YouTube. These consist of speakers from all walks of life giving inspirational talks lasting, typically 20 minutes. I have found some really good material here to watch while Inge is watching stuff on TV that doesn't interest me.

One topic I found quite interesting involved how posture shapes your world. The title of the video is "Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are". In summary, a good, strong posture results in positive outcomes, even down to the physiological level (eg more testosterone measured in blind studies of people asked to assume strong posture vs people who assumed weak posture.) I also remember from the video that in situations where one meets unknown people, their first impression can be seriously affected by the posture observed.

Needless to say, I started observing my posture in various situations. Above, from our trip to 63 Ranch in Montana, you can see two posture examples - one rather slouched and the other with shoulders thrown back which positions one in a strong posture. However, maintaining a strong posture turns out to be hard work and even impossible in some situations. Take, for example, eating.

Meadow Lunch in Montana

As you can see in the picture above, the natural posture for eating is to curl around the food. I suppose one could throw the shoulders back to eat, but it feels rather unnatural to do so.

Fatigue also affects posture. Last week when our family visited and walked around San Antonio, I found myself, towards the end of the day, walking with a weak posture, shoulders curled forward and back hunched. Practicing mindfulness, several times I deliberately re-adjusted my posture to straighten the back and throw open my shoulders, but once the mind disengaged from observing posture and engaged in the shopping and sightseeing, my posture slipped backed to curved and hunched. Interestingly, I can't find a photo in my library with me walking in a hunched posture because no one photographs me in a natural setting. I'm always posing for pictures and who doesn't try to put their best posture forward for a posed photograph?

One thing I will try to adopt from the posture Ted Talks video is to purposely pose with a strong posture for a few minutes prior to engaging in an activity where first impressions matter, like an interview. First impressions last and it certainly won't hurt to put my mind and body into a positive mode by posing in a strong positive posture.